“I hope that things are sorted out quickly.” Braydon muttered to himself as he watched Lani and Roan ride away from the town walls. It was not too long later that a servant came rushing towards him, causing Braydon to sigh. ‘So the dispute is between two higher ranking nobles then?’

“Sire, His Majesty has requested your immediate presence.” as soon as the servant said that, Braydon’s mild annoyance immediately disappeared. If the King was urgently looking for him then it could only mean one thing.

“Shit! Can Duke Ryder not give us a break for one moment?” He started rushing down the town walls, looking to see if there were any horses that the garrison weren’t using nearby.

“Ah! Corban, are there any free horses?” By the time he got to the bottom, he saw Corban who was presumably going around the various tasks that he had at any point in the day.

“No, but you can borrow mine if it is a hurry.” Corban was not in a good mood since he learnt that Roan was not going to be there to help him for the next few days at least. Once he saw the urgency with which Braydon was coming down the stairs, however, he knew that he should probably not choose that moment to complain about his workload.

“There is an urgent meeting, you are a lifesaver.” Braydon said as he mounted the horse that Corban had just dismounted.

“If you are that thankful then make my job easier.!” Corban shouted from a distance as Braydon quickly made his way towards the lord's mansion.

“Easier said than done I’m afraid. “ Braydon muttered to himself after hearing what Corban had said, too far away to respond.

“Is the King in the study or the hall?” As soon as Braydon arrived at the mansion, he asked the door guard. He had noticed a number of carriages and horses nearby, presumably because the small stable for the lord’s mansion could not fit them all. This only served to confirm his suspicion about the content of the meeting. Why else would the meeting be urgent if not to discuss Duke Ryder?

“His Majesty is waiting in the hall, a number of lords have already arrived.” Braydon quickly made his way to the hall, it was more a large dining area than a proper hall but it had been dubbed as such anyway.

As soon as Braydon entered the hall, he could tell that the King had summoned everybody. There was no way that it would be that packed if it were just the royal faction, all chairs had been removed to make space for people to stand. All that remained was the long table with a map of Fiveria laid out on it. If Braydon were under any illusions that they were not here to discuss Duke Ryder, they were all gone now.

“Viscount Braydon, come closer.” As he made his way slowly through the crowd, Aled noticed him and called him to come closer. As soon as the King spoke, the various lords made way for Braydon to stand beside the table.

“So this is about Duke Ryder?” He did not have to guess, it was obvious. Braydon noticed that everyone above the rank of baron, with the expectation of Lani was already waiting at the table. He could not tell if all of the barons were in the room, it was far too crowded to count them. Not that Braydon was confident in knowing the exact number to begin with.

“Exactly that. He has started to move again. It looks like he does not intend to fight Duke Burn right away either, instead moving towards the east.” When the King shared this, Braydon felt a headache coming on. This would only mean trouble.

“Do we know what he has been doing all this time besides recruiting Oakley’s old allies?” Braydon asked, hoping that the Duke’s movements were not the only bad news. Though this was Duke Ryder, a man who had shown that he did not use half measures. He suspected that, even if they did not know it, the Duke would have definitely not have just sat on his thumbs for the better part of three weeks.

“As a matter of fact, we know a bit more. It appears that he has not only gathered Duke Oakley’s old allies but also brought more men from his territory to join his main army. It seems that he is confident that he will not need to defend his land any time soon.” Aled said with frustration. He also saw that it was unlikely that anyone would be attacking Duke Ryder’s land. Even Duke Burn would most likely try to either get around him to go to his own territory or position himself so that Duke Ryder would be stuck between himself and the royal faction.

“Are we really sure that Duke Burn would not do that? He did attack Earl Blake out of the blue too.” Ethan brought up a good point, they still did not know why Duke Burn thought it necessary to attack Earl Blake. Assuming what he would do was not exactly a safe proposition.

“He may be insane but that does not mean that his allies are insane too. They would stop him at some point.” Cinar countered. The problem was that nobody knew if Duke Burn was truly that death seeking or when the point that his allies would step in was.

“All we know right now is that Duke Ryder is getting closer by the day. He will be on the riverside in a matter of days and I do not want to gamble on what Duke Burn may or may not do. I want a significant number of men sat near the bridge by Wathamalin. We cannot let Duke Ryder cross with no sacrifices.” The King interjected, clearly not wanting to discuss what Duke Burn was up to. The point of the meeting was to counter Duke Ryder and he was going to keep it on topic.